Mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls have been used in the construction industry for many years now, perhaps since about 1963 or so. The primary component of typical MSE walls comprises alternating layers of granular fills and soil reinforcement geo-grids to which a modular wire wall facing is attached to form the wall face. The wire wall facing is an open grid of wire and forms a sort of wire basket to try to contain the soil somewhat.
The soil reinforcement geo-grids used in the MSE walls sometimes take the form of concrete blocks or other concrete structural elements. Where the use of concrete facing is cost-prohibitive, the soil often is left more or less exposed along the front face thereof. Some limited protection from exposure is often provided by wrapping or cladding the front face of the soil with a geo-textile through which vegetation can grow to provide for a natural look. Typically, when using such a vegetation facing, it has been known in the prior art to construct a stepped wall (stair-stepped) to provide a more natural look in which the vegetation can grow in the flat (horizontal) and vertical sections of the steps.
The geo-textiles typically are synthetic materials and often are used as secondary reinforcement wraps. These synthetic geo-textiles can be damaged by ultra-violet (UV) light over time if the vegetation is not totally established to provide full shade for the geo-textile. The UV damage can cause significant deterioration of the geo-textile over time, which can cause a failure of the MSE wall in that the face of the wall will erode if it rains, degrading or destroying the integrity of the MSE wall.
Artificial grass has been extensively used in sport arenas as well as airport runways and general landscaping. A primary consideration of artificial turf playing fields is the ability of the field to drain. Examples of prior art in synthetic grass drainage are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,876,745; 6,858,272; 6,877,932 and 6,946,181. However, these applications are generally only for field playing surfaces where the ground is substantially flat and the concern is only with the ability to improve field playing conditions.